Santiago Caruso is an Argentinian artist. His symbolist and surreal work has an avant-garde concept but is rooted in the nineteenth century’s decadentism. His work stands out both for the vigor of its poetry as well as for its technique.
Santiago typically uses ink and watercolors. The ink is applied over a plastered cardboard and is later scratched with a cutter to depict the lighting. He does not work from a sketch, so the work slowly evolves over time, using the shape of spots of ink from the base to construct his figures. Recently, to save time, he returned to tempera and acrylics images with a textural mood in a dark tone like his other scratched art.
The artist describes his style:
[pull_quote_center]I try to summon a poetic phantom that supplies a wider vision of the human, contemplating the beautiful, the frightening, the repressed or forgotten in the shadows, the impossible. With this concept of depiction, I try to utilize Gothic symbolism as a crystallized view of the world in many respects. I combine religion, politics, and commonplace things to reveal another vision of the world with regard to the unconscious, the damned ghosts we’ve buried, and many other aspects of history and philosophy.[/pull_quote_center]
Through his work, one can see nods to several past symbolist artists. The muted colors, rich detail, allegorical elements and graceful linework are reminiscent of William Blake and Odilon Redon. The variety of demons and other oddities that populate some of his pieces (complete with erect genitals) bring the artwork of Hieronymus Bosch to mind.
In addition to his personal artwork, Santiago is available for hire as a professional illustrator. His published work includes cover illustrations for The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft; The Bloody Countess by Alejandra Pizarnik and The Monk and the Hangman´s Daughter by Ambrose Bierce, to name a few.
